The Chaos Series - pt 4

The Chaos Series
An "Enterprise" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

RATING: PG-13.
ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.
FEEDBACK: Welcomed. SPOILERS: Last episode of Season 3.
EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com
WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "The retrieval team get captured. The Andorians do not believe T'Pol and think she is trying to trick them."
DISCLAIMER: The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Enterprise' are the property and gift of Paramount and part of the wonderful legacy of Gene Roddenberry. No infringement of copyright is intended.

Part Four

ONLY HUMAN

* * * * *

It was cold, dark and dank but at least they were more or less still together. Trip was disgusted at himself for getting captured. How could he rescue the Captain when he was stuck in a German prison cell? All he could tell was that they were below ground. The cells were cut out off-shoots of tunnels closed off with thick metal doors. No windows, no grills, nothing but the seeping damp creeping with mould on thick earthen walls. He blinked at Malcolm and tried to ignore the smell. The MACOs were in an adjoining cell, a fact they confirmed by tapping out signals on the metal door then listening for an answer. Lt Reed was in quite a temper, inwardly seething at his own inability to keep the away team safe. His angry pacing was beginning to dance on the last nerve Trip had left.

"Will ya stop doin' that?"

The Lieutenant paused. "This is my fault, Commander. I screwed up the mission by getting us caught."

Trip sighed and rolled his eyes. He was getting pretty sick of the self recriminations of his friend even if he had been doing the same thing himself only a minute ago. What was past was past, time to move on and look to the future. A future they would only have if they put their heads together and worked out a plan of escape. He said as much to his friend.

"What do you suggest, Commander? They took our weapons and our communicators."

The Commander put his hands on his hips, his eyes now fully adjusted to the dim light leaking round the heavy metal door of their prison. "I don't suggest givin' up. We'll think of somethin'. Cap'n's dependin' on us to rescue him."

"The Captain doesn't know we're here. But you're right Commander, we have to rescue him." Malcolm paused, his next words uttered so quietly that Trip could only just hear them. "But who will rescue us?"

"No one, Lieutenant, 'cause we're gonna get ourselves out of here."

Lt Reed stared at him for a moment. "And how are we going to accomplish an act Houdini would have trouble mastering?" He paused, letting his eyes wander pointedly around the depressingly secure little cell. It stood no more than eight by eight. "Are you suggesting we dig ourselves out, Commander? Because if you are I would remind you there has to be several tons of earth and rock above our heads."

For a moment the Commander said nothing. Malcolm's eyes narrowed slightly, he knew that look. The Commander was thinking. "Ya know Lieutenant," Trip drawled slowly. "That's not a bad idea."

"It wasn't an idea, it was an example of suicide."

Trip looked at him calmly, his earlier frustration being channeled into something more useful. Impossibly, to Malcolm's mind, he smiled. "Malcolm, I'm sure the Chief Engineer an' the Armoury Officer will come up with a way."

"A way of what? We're trapped, Commander."

Trip nodded. "We are if we believe we are."

"What?"

"Malcolm, think outside of the box. They think we're trapped down here, right? Fish in a barrel."

"Your point being?"

"Let 'em think just that, it'll give us time to get outta here."

"Commander you're insane. Our best way out is to wait until someone comes to feed us or question us. When they take us to the surface we make a break for it. Overpower the guards..."

"The *armed* guards." Stressed the Chief Engineer quietly.

Lt Reed blinked. "Well, of course they'll be armed."

"Lieutenant when we got captured did ya notice anythin' odd about it?"

Now he was well and truly baffled. "Odd? Commander Tucker we are in enemy territory, behind enemy lines, what the bloody hell is odd about being ruddy well captured?"

"Not what I meant. Corporal MAYO sensed or heard movement ahead, turned us away from that danger only to find enemy soldiers comin' the other way."

"I am well aware of what happened, Commander, I was there."

Trip paused and waited for his snappy friend to regain his composure. Malcolm swallowed, feeling a little ashamed at his outburst.

"I'm sorry, Commander, I'm a little on edge."

"We all are but the point I'm makin' is that those soldiers seemed to know *exactly* where we were. Now wouldn't ya say that was odd?"

He was pleased to see Malcolm tip his head slightly, his expression more thoughtful. "They must have picked us up on their sensors."

"Sensors?" Trip resisted the urge to laugh. "We went back in time, Malcolm. They don't have sensors or phase modulated weapons or warp capable starships or any of the technology we have. They have manually operated hand weapons that we've only seen in museums."

"As I recall, they did have radar back then but it was crude and certainly not designed to track individuals."

"Then how'd they see us comin'?"

Lt Reed just stared at him for a moment. "Perhaps they just saw the shuttlepod come down, sent troops to spread out and wait for it to land then close in on us."

"That would be my best guess too, Lieutenant."

Something about the way he said it made Malcolm's look sharpen. "But you don't believe that happened do you?"

"I don't *know* what happened Malcolm but I aim to find out. If we get a chance after we get out of here an' locate the Cap'n."

There was an awkward silence. "You're serious aren't you?"

"As a heart attack. We're the Cap'n's on'y hope, Malcolm, an' I don't intend to let a little thing like incarceration stop me from gettin' him outta this mess. We're gonna dig our way outta here."

"You're mad."

"I'm an engineer an' I noticed somethin' while you were gettin' ready to accept defeat." Malcolm bristled but before he could say anything the Commander continued. "See this packed earth? There's stone an' rock in there. Kind'a like old fashioned ballast."

"That will just make it harder to dig through with our bare hands."

"Think beyond the box, Lieutenant."

Malcolm blinked at his crazy friend.

"We're not gonna dig with our hands."

"We're not?"

Trip looked at the wall behind Lt Reed. Malcolm turned and looked at what had caught the engineer's eye, the hard flat pieces of rock embedded in the chalky soil produced a dark smile across his tense face. "Not exactly a spade but we could improvise."

"Just what I was thinkin'."

"But how are we going to stop the earth collapsing down on us as we dig?"

"We use what we have, Lieutenant. Those rocks we dig outta the dirt we'll pack the sides with."

"You want to make a tunnel?"

The Commander shook his head and looked up. To the dark oppressive mass of soil and rock above their heads. "I plan to make us an exit shaft."

Malcolm Reed shook his head but the look on his face was tinged with affection. "You're not just crazy, you're certifiable."

"Can the Chief Engineer count on the help of the Armoury Officer?"

Lt Reed smiled despite the dire situation they found themselves in. There was always something very comforting about being stuck in sticky situations with Trip. The man's unfailing good nature was only part of it. One thing he had learnt about his amiable but oh so stubborn friend. Once Trip Tucker got the bit between his teeth he never gave up. Well Reeds were every bit as stubborn as Tuckers. "Ready when you are, Commander! After all it is the duty of every prisoner of war to try to escape."

"Do ya know enough morse code to tell the others what we're gonna do?"

"Being the son of a British Naval Officer does have certain advantages, Commander."

Trip grinned, taking that as a yes. "Then tell them the good news. I'll see if I can dig enough earth away from this rock to get us somethin' to dig with. We're gonna get outta here Malcolm. It's just a question of when. Ask them to keep an ear out for anyone comin'. They hear anythin' but us they're to set up the kind'a ruckus that would wake the dead."

"As long as we're not among that number, Commander." Responded the Armoury Officer dryly.

Commander Tucker did not respond. He was too busy digging his fingers and nails into the packed earth and using all his strength and energy to scrape as much dirt as he could from the embedded pieces of rock. The sooner he worked one loose the sooner he could dig in earnest.

* * * * *

Ensign Hoshi Sato was feeling more and more nervous. This was the third time Commander Shran had hailed them. Each time he seemed even angrier and less in control of himself than the time before. Fortunately T'Pol was adept at keeping her cool. Hoshi would never know how much that control cost her.

"You will tell Archer I must speak with him immediately!"

T'Pol arched an eyebrow. Her calm seemed to incense the Andorian almost as much as the missing Captain. "The Captain is not currently on board..."

"Then let me speak to Commander Tucker!"

Her other eyebrow rose to join the first. "I regret to inform you the Commander is also not on board at this time."

"What are you hiding from me, Vulcan?"

"I am hiding nothing, Commander. We also appear to be trapped in the wrong time period."

"It is more likely that this is a Vulcan trick."

"If it is a trick, Commander, then it is one that has caught both myself and the crew of Enterprise as well. In fact whatever has caused this anomaly has extended to the planet below."

For the first time since Shran had contacted Enterprise he appeared surprised rather than suspicious and hostile. Hoshi watched the way his antenna moved, finding they gave more away than the Andorian's words. Interesting. She watched him closely, could almost feel that alien mind ticking. "Are you saying... the planet is also affected?"

"That is correct. We have all been plunged back in time tens of years."

The Andorian was frowning now. "Why did Archer go down to the planet?"

"It is complicated."

A fierce look came over Shran's face. "Explain."

T'Pol took a mental breath. "When the Xindi weapon exploded Captain Archer was not able to get clear in time. We lost him. Then we found ourselves in this anomaly and discovered that we were picking up the Captain's signal from the planet surface." She paused and tilted her head slightly as if puzzled by this fact. "We could not account for it other than to believe the Captain was somehow on the surface. A shuttlepod was sent to investigate and was quickly under fire from primitive weapons."

"Primitive?"

"Yes, primitive. Human evolution is a recent phenomenon, Commander. The Earth you see before you is a pre-warp society. In addition, at that time period Humans had yet to outgrow their war like tendencies."

"War like?"

T'Pol frowned slightly at Commander Shran's continued repetition. "As we speak there is a war raging on the planet below."

Commander Shran sat quickly. This was getting more and more bizarre. Travis knew exactly how he felt. The boomer's head was still spinning from the first time he had heard the news. Impossible was no longer a word that looked at home in the Starfleet dictionary.

* * * * *

Captain Archer was beginning to feel better, not so light headed. The ingestion of food and water had done a great deal to fortify him. He started to sit up when a low murmur froze him in place. What the hell was that? He turned his head with exaggerated slowness and felt something cold and deadly lock in place where a warm beating heart should have been. The shape was much darker than the shadows of night, a sense of deep foreboding making his throat suddenly dry. The voice that spoke was like no other he had ever heard, an echoing whispering shadow that knew his name.

"Do not move, Captain Archer. Movement is death. Silence is wisdom."

He forced himself to break that taboo, to demand to know who or what he was as an unreasoning fear gripped him. "What do you want?"

"What I want has been compromised by your interference."

The Captain was confused. "My... interference?"

"Yes." A pause. When the voice resumed the darkness it embodied actually seemed to deepen. A huge yawning cavernous pit of nothing, an abyss the size and shape of eternity, a place of limbo where all things ceased to have function or form. Where all light and hope were extinguished in an instant frozen in time. How he knew or sensed such a thing he did not know but it increased the rate of his heartbeat and made the breath catch in his lungs as if the air he was breathing had suddenly grown too thin. "An interference that will have consequences far beyond your imagining."

"I don't understand. Who are you? And what am I doing here?"

"Soon all will become clear, or rather - clearer. Your puny mind cannot be expected to grasp all the subtleties. As for who I am, I am the last living thing you will see before you die."

The Captain swallowed slowly, trying hard not to be intimidated by the fearful presence. "You didn't tell me who you are. Or are you afraid if I know I'll stop you?"

For a moment nothing happened then he heard a harsh rasping laughter that chilled his blood. It stopped as abruptly as it had started. "You cannot stop me."

"Then why the horror show? Or couldn't you get anyone to buy tickets to this little charade?"

"Because of you the Temporal War has changed direction. What was a simple readjustment of events now becomes a bloodbath. But you may congratulate yourself on one thing, Captain."

Captain Archer began to feel sick. "What's that?"

"You won't be around to suffer what follows."

Before he could demand to know what the hell he meant by that the presence evaporated and was gone. That was two different beings who had warned that his death was imminent. If that was so why was he still alive? What were they waiting for? He could only conclude that something else had to happen first. As if the sequence of events had to be exact if their manipulation of time was to achieve its' objective. And, if that were the case, could he somehow use this to his advantage? His head was beginning to hurt. Speculation was all well and good but he needed facts. Captain Archer leaned back and closed his eyes. What he would not give right now for the cool, calm logic of a Vulcan.

* * * * *

T'Pol was feeling impatient and it was taking more and more of her control to hide that fact. She stared out at the image of the Andorian vessel. "What are they doing?"

Ensign Mayweather checked his readings and looked up in surprise. "They appear to be launching a shuttle."

The Vulcan glanced at Ensign Sato, a hard unforgiving look on her face. "Open a channel, Ensign."

Hoshi put her hand to her ear and shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry but the Andorians have just severed communications with us."

Travis looked at T'Pol and tried to hide his worry. "The shuttle is descending rapidly, at its' current rate of descent it will be landing in close proximity to the Captain's signal."

Concern flashed across the Vulcan's austere mask showing that it really was only skin deep. "Ensign Sato, contact the away team. Warn them that they are about to have company."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * * * *

Trip was sweating profusely. Not only was the cell cramped, damp and smelly the air tasted foul too. He had unzipped the top of his uniform in an effort to cool down but nothing seemed to work. He noticed Lt Reed was every bit as sweaty and uncomfortable as he was. The good news was that they had managed to dig out a couple of slabs of rock they could use as digging implements. The bad news was that the impacted earth and rock was unstable. Every time they made inroads into it the surrounding material rained down on them before they could adequately shore it up. At this rate they would be buried alive before they went more than six feet. Malcolm stepped back as another shower of dirt and rock filled the air with gritty particles and lumps of not so soft material.

"This is bloody ridiculous, Commander!"

Commander Tucker stepped back and took a deep exhausted breath. They had been working non stop for several hours and were getting nowhere. "Much as I'd like to pretend otherwise, Lieutenant, you're right. This was a stupid idea." The Commander threw down his slab of rock in disgust.

"It was a good idea," Said his equally weary friend. "And it's *still* a good idea."

Trip looked at him as if he were speaking Klingon. "Come again?"

"I said it's still a good idea, sir. It just needs... adjusting."

He was given an incredulous look. "Adjusting? What in hell does that mean?"

Impossibly, Malcolm smirked a little. "Maybe we shouldn't be so ambitious, Trip." He said gently. At the Commander's blank expression the Armoury Officer elaborated. "Instead of going UP why don't we take the scenic route? Why not simply dig our way out of this cell? We know the tunnel beyond that door leads back to the surface. Why dig through tons and tons of rock and dirt when the Germans have already done it for us? I think it would be rather poetical to use their own tunnels to make our escape. Has certain symmetry to it, don't you think?"

Trip blinked at him, smiled with delight then chuckled. "That's a great idea, Malcolm!"

Lt Reed smiled, suddenly feeling that things were not quite as bleak as they had been just moments before. He caught an unmistakable twinkle in the Chief Engineer's eye.

"What do you say we improve our odds, Lieutenant?"

The Armoury Officer raised an eyebrow and for a brief disconcerting moment reminded Trip of T'Pol. He shoved the thought to the back of his mind and blamed it on the lack of fresh air to his foggy brain.

"Let's break through to the next cell then Mayo and Fox can help us. That way when we get into the corridor we don't have to find a way to get them out too."

Malcolm nodded The ad-hoc plan was looking better and better. "Excellent idea, sir."

"Then what're we waitin' for, Lieutenant?"

* * * * *

Part 5

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A handful of people have made comments

Great chapter. I love Trip and Malcolm together. They are absolutely wonderful. Look forward to your next update.

Great chapter! I'm interested to see what the Andorians get up to down on Earth.

Very exciting...T'Pol's frustration is palpable.

Uh, uh! Excellent!

Another great chapter, Ali! Keep 'em coming! :-)